First, I apologize if this is the wrong forum for this post, but I made a calculated guess that maybe those with a strong interest in finances, would also be experienced in business and employment standards.
I work for a company, as a Production supervisor, and am looking for advice and direction on handling an issue with my direct Manager. The manager has a history of intimidation, scaring employees, and even incidents of angry outbursts. He is, however, best friends with the plant manager. They came here from the same company, where they worked closely together for years. The manager even was the guy who hired the Plant Manager at their previous company. I'll cut through all the other bull. In May of this year, we had a disagreement over my being friends with a former employee, who had been released by the company earlier this year. He's a good friend of mine, and we do not discuss the business, but I refuse to stop being friends with someone simply because they no longer work with the company. The problem lies in the fact that my manger and my friend do not like each other, and upon his leaving, the guy filed a whistleblower complaint against the company, with multiple other employees, (none of which were myself) regarding some hostile workplace issues. This was investigated, and found justified enough that the corporate HR team flew down from NY and did an entire week of management training to change the environment here to a more friendly and accepting one. They even gave all production employees a percentage raise in pay to attempt to fight the backlash, and remedy the complaints they were receiving. We share an office together, and it's quite isolated on the far end of the plant, just the two of us in the office. He went off on me that day, getting in my face after I told him that as long as I am not divulging company information, who I am friends with outside of work is my business only. It got so heated, that I walked out of the building to get away from him, to avoid what I thought was going to escalate to physical violence. About 15 minutes later, he sent me a text from his company issued cell phone, and it read verbatim as follows. Names will be changed for security purposes. "Not sure where you are, but I'll touch on this one final time. You can be friends with Jack all you like, but just understand that we know what he is doing, and in turn you are probably doing as well. Just like him, your presence here is temporary, and I'll see to that no matter what else I do. When the day comes and you are walked out, I'll be sure to be there watching as it happens. You let him know that if he continues to try to come for my job, then I am more than willing to meet him in person, and let him know just how far I'm willing to go. that goes for you as well. You may have these people fooled, that you're some tough guy or something, but not me. I see right through you. If I find out you're a part of this, I'll be extending that same offer to you, because I honestly think bringing you down a few pegs is just what you need. Also, I'm the one that signs your pay, your performance reviews, and sets your schedule. Remember that the next time you want to scheme with someone else. Now, you have 5 minutes to be inside or I will report that you left without notice."
Two days later, I went on medical leave to have surgery. upon my return last week, I sent our HR manager, and the Corporate HR manager an email detailing the incident, and screenshots of the message, with his company number showing as the sender of the message. Up until this point, nobody has had much solid proof of him threatening violence, or other severely inappropriate behavior, so he has faced limited discipline, even being promoted to Value Stream Manager in the meantime. So, having this physical proof is a big deal, as he goes to great lengths to not do these things in the presence of others in Management, or allow any solid evidence to be existent. They verified the accuracy, and said an investigation would be opened. My issue is this. I sent that message 10 days ago, and he we are, still sharing this isolated office together, on the far side of the plant. We are the only two people in this office, and it is extremely tense, and I feel it is unsafe to allow it. I feel that the first thing should have been to separate the two of us, as he threatened me with violence, and they still allow him to have unlimited access to me throughout the day, with nobody else present to witness or prevent any further issues. I'm now getting the cold shoulder from the management team, passive aggressiveness every day, no longer any good mornings or hellos. I feel like they want to make it so uncomfortable for me, that I'll just quit or something. Please, can anyone give me some advice, and tell me if I have options, or what I should do?